Fort De Caroline, 1562-64 & Fort Raleigh, 1585-1590: Periphery Victims of Spanish Religious Intolerance. by Joshua Duder
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Fort de Caroline, 1562-64 & Fort Raleigh, 1585-1590: Periphery Victims of Spanish Religious Intolerance. By Joshua Duder Senior Seminar (HST 499W) June 6, 2008 Primary Reader: Dr. John Rector Secondary Reader: Dr. Laurie Carlson Course Instructor: Dr. David Doellinger History Department Western Oregon University Fort de Caroline, 1562-64 & Fort Raleigh, 1585-1590: Periphery Victims of Spanish Religious Intolerance. When Christopher Columbus returned to Spain with news of a “New World” in 1492, the countries of the old world found yet another reason to squabble with one another. A comparative analysis of the motives behind the colonization of the “New World”, the political arena between colonizing countries and the fierce religious rivalries therein during the sixteenth century uncovers a previously unrevealed theory concerning the disappearance of England’s failed first “colony” on Roanoke Island. While Spain and Portugal lay claim to the whole of the “New World”, they purposefully destroyed the colonizing efforts of countries not granted the Papal right to pursue them; especially if those colonies encroached upon Spanish sea routes used to ship the treasures of the “New World” back to Europe. In theory, it could be said that the English settlers abandoned at Fort Raleigh on a desolate Roanoke Island in 1587, were within Spain’s “La Floride”, and were either captured, killed or runoff by raging Spanish forces that were leery of England’s intentions there. The disappearance of England’s first failed attempt to colonize in the “New World” remains one of America’s greatest cold-case mysteries. The governor of the Roanoke settlement, John White, had to suddenly leave for England in 1587, shortly after the 117 men and women had landed on the small island off of the North American coast. Though he intended on returning immediately, the religious war with Spain and the ensuing Spanish Armada of 1588 kept John White waiting until 1590 to return to 2 Roanoke Island.1 By that time, the Roanoke settlers had completely disappeared and the evidence that remained spoke very little of why the planters left the safety of nearby Fort Raleigh, which was on the same small island.2 Fortunately, much of what we can find out about the happenings on Roanoke Island can be found in a handful of valuable primary sources: the writings and journals of Arthur Barlowe, Ralph Lane, Richard Grenville, John White and even the famous American character, Captain John Smith. Years later, when King James I, of England, renewed England’s interests in colonizing the new world during the early 1600s, the model of heroic exploration had been intended to be replaced with a more corporate model. James even divided the overwhelming “Virginia”, which encompassed all of the eastern sea-board of North America, into two more manageable portions—the southern part came under the care of the Virginia Company’s London members, while the northern part belonged to members of the West Country Promoters, Bristol, Exeter, and Plymouth. In doing this, it would be easier to sub-divide the lands by corporate letters patent without running into un-guided competition for borders.3 However, the change in colonizing methodology did not exclude fascinating “heroic” characters to surface. The newly devised Virginia Company sent the colorful Captain John Smith to the “New World” in late December 1606; he arrived in chains in 1607. 1 Polk, William R. The Birth of America: From Before Columbus to the Revolution. New York, NY: Harper-Perennial, 2006. p 101-104. 2 Taylor, Alan. American Colonies: The Settling of North America. New York, NY: Penguin Press, 2002. p 123-125. For more information about Fort Raleigh: Harrington, J.C. Fort Raleigh, 1585. The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. Vol 13. No 4. (Dec 1954). p 27-28. 3 Smith, Lacey Baldwin. This Realm of England, 1399-1688 (8th Ed). Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 2001. p 265 (James I: Foreign Policy and Renewed War with Spain). 3 Because he was on a list of company council members, previously kept secret, he was expunged of all charges and by late 1607 had essentially become the new colony’s Governor. Jamestown, the first quasi-successful English colony, has its own history but because it was established less than two decades after the failure of Roanoke, and only one-hundred thirty miles north of Roanoke Island, the mystery of the missing Englishmen would likely be on their minds. In fact, according to Smith’s Writings, there were attempts to locate any survivors of what was surly thought of as a catastrophe. In Smith’s The First Booke, he gives an account of what he has heard or read regarding the English experience in the “New World”; from speculation of a Prince Madock of Wales, having discovered Land Unknowne in 1170 to John Cabot and sons having actually discovered mainland North America before Columbus in 1497. Most importantly, he relays the story of Sir Richard Grenville’s first voyage to Virginia for Sir Walter Raleigh in 1585 and a list of names of who were there.4 Smith’s book at the very least, confirms that the journals and letters of those supposedly involved in the narrative of Roanoke were printed before or during his experience in America, and not falsified for any reason at a later time. It is because of his access to the history of Roanoke that Captain John Smith understands the gravity of his situation regarding the colonization of the “Savage Land” and is compelled to find out the true destroyer of the Roanoke settlers. Roanoke Island, eight miles long and only two miles wide, was way too small to have been meant to sustain a permanent colony. By 1585, Roanoke Island was home to a fledgling Fort Raleigh and was officially inhabited by a hundred of Sir Francis Drake’s soldiers; it 4 Smith, Capt. John. The Generall Historie: How Ancient Authors Report The New-World, Now called America, was discovered: and part thereof first Planted by the English, called Virginia, with the Accidents and Proceedings of the same, The First Booke. New York, NY: The Library of America, 2007. p 227-257. 4 seemed perfect as a hideout for English Privateers, than an official colony. The island’s location provided obscurity from passing Spanish pirate-hunters because it was guarded from the Atlantic by a series of dangerous shoals, sand mounts and long barrier islands. Historians, Alan Taylor as well as William Polk suggest that though the sand mounts and sand bars made it difficult for the English ships to land supplied or theoretically load commodities, it was nearly impossible for the deeper-hulled ships of the Spaniards to approach the island. “Raleigh had selected Roanoke for its inaccessibility. A jagged sliver of island, caressed by a sheet of water thin as tissue paper…Beyond it, the Atlantic rages against miles of unyielding barrier islands.”5 Though the sand bars shift in the Albemarle Sound, where Roanoke Island is located, and the water is never deeper than twenty-five feet, or eight meters deep. As the English explorers will find, Albemarle Sound is actually connected to the Chesapeake Bay by the Great Dismal Swamp.6 To find a suitable site for a colony in the first place, a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I of England, Sir Walter Raleigh, dispatched his cousin, sailor and adventurer, Sir Richard Grenville, to confirm the location of “Virginia”, originally found by Captains, Master Philip Amadas and Master Arthur Barlowe7; then drop Master Ralph Lane and the soldiers off on the island, they would reconnoiter. They never made it—Grenville, lazily left the colonists on the island and most likely went in search of Spanish treasure. Though Roanoke Island 5 Miller, Lee. Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony. New York, NY: Arcade Publishing, 2001. p 5. 6 Encyclopedia Brittanica: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/12634/Albemarle-Sound Last Viewed, 06/06/2008. 7 Lorant, Stefan. (ed). The New World: The First Pictures of America. By John White and Jacques Le Moyne. New York, NY: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1946. p 133. 5 seemed a perfect location for a naval harbor and post, it would prove to be a doomed site for a colony. The sandy soil could hardly yield enough, if any, crops to support even a meager population; but the militant company of men was not bothered at all by the paltry prospects of agricultural production; they expected to be tended to by the local natives. Sir Walter Raleigh selected a steely veteran, Master Ralph Lane, to lead the first English expedition in the “New World”. Lane, a survivor of the invasion and English “colonization” of Ireland, was well read and had been excited by the accounts of conquest coming from the Spaniards. He encouraged his men to behave in manners consistent with how they perceived the Conquistadores, all the while, the English were making no friends with the natives. Master Ralph Lane governed Fort Raleigh on Roanoke Island from August 17, 1685 to June 18, 1586. According to Ralph Lane’s report to Sir Walter Raleigh, Lane led expeditions north, south and west, into the interior: Eighty miles south to Sector, one-hundred thirty miles north into the Chesapeake, most likely through the Great Dismal Swamp, and Lane’s men traveled another one-hundred thirty miles inland.8 Lane and his men repeatedly offended the local natives, most importantly the Chaonist tribe, the Mangoaks and the Mandoags of the Chesapian, or Chesapeake, country. Distrusting the English, the locals began to plot against the settlers. It was in 1586 that relations with the “Indians” completely broke down—Lane and his men were nearly at war with the Chaonists and the Mangoaks while Pemisopan was conspiring against the English soldiers.